Connector



R. A. BECKER.

CONNECTOR. APPUCATION FILED AUG. 8.. l9l7.

l ,328,6 1 2 Patented Jan. 20, 1920.

/NVENTOR -Unirnn srarns narnia" ROBERT A. BECKER, 0F IE'OUGl-IKEEPSXE, NEW' YORK, .ASSIGNOR 0F ONE-HALF T0 CHARLES TREMAIN, 0F PO'Gl-IKEEPSIE, NEli YRK.

CONNECTOR.

Application :filed August 8, 1917.

To all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT A. BECKER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Poughkeepsie, in the county of Dutchess and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Connectors, of which the following is a specification.

The object of the invention is to provide a connector for cables, wires, and the like, which gives the greatest eiliciency as a conductor for electricity, without offering resistance thereto and thereby causing a rise in the temperature thereof. p

Another object is to provide a connector which more firmly grips the adjacent ends of the members being connected, and simultaneously brings them into so tight a cooperation that a cold weld is formed.

Still another object is to provide in such a connector a gripping member having a tapered section, substantially the entire length of which the latter is able to contract radially about a cable upon uniting the parts of the device, yet which prevents a twisting of the said cable when turning the contracting sleeve into place.

And a further object is to provide a connector which is composed of the least con venient number of parts, three in all, and in the case of the straightconnector the gripping sections of the middle being 1ntegrally connected, but operative to grip cables passing therethrough independently and with entire freedom with respect to each other.

These and further objects and details of the construction of the invention in its preferred forms is fully described in the following specification in which Figure 1 is a longitudinal section through a connector of the improved form for straight work; Fig. 2 is a group view of the respective elements of the device shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an elevation of a cable lug provided with the improved cone; Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section through the same; and Fig. 5 is a detail view of the cable gripping member y of the said cable lug.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, an axially apertured member 1 is shown as having a central, polygonally shaped periphery 2, and reduced externally threaded portions 8, terminating in externally tapered sections 4, provided with lon- Speccaton of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 20, 1920 Serial No. 185,006.

, g'itudinally extending slots 5, said sections being substantially semi-divided from the threat ed portions 3 by transversely extendin g slots (i.

Similarly shaped axially apertured sleeves 7 are provided with internally threaded portions 8 and smooth tapered bores 9, the former being adapted to screw upon the threads of the central member above described, while the latter surround and contact uniformly with the tapered extensions -i of said member.

lin the operation of this device, cables are passed through the sleeves unassembled and into the central member until they meet substantially in the center thereof. The respective sleeves are then'screwed into place one after the other by means of suitable wrenches in a well-known manner.

Each of the said' sleeves in this way contracts the longitudinally slotted tapered section i of the member l by bending the flexible portions 10 toward each other, andl .conductors is for all practical purposes constant and equal throughout the extent of the former, and all chance of a rise in temperature of the connector as the result of the resistance or imperfect contact is eliminated.

Referring to 3, t and 5 a cable lug is shown as comprising an internally threaded member 15, provided at one end with an outwardly tapering bore 16 in which slidably moves the tapered portion 17 of a cylindrical member 18, forced into said first member by means of an externally threaded plug 19, transversely apertured at 20 to receive an electric conductor.

rIhe member 18 is provided with a transversely extending slot 21, which partially separates the main body portion of the former from the tapered section 17, the latter being longitudinally slotted at 22. Said member is also provided with diametrically oppositely extending lugs 23, slidable in the laterally positioned slots 24 of the plug member.

With the construction an electric conductor passes through the aperture 20 of the plug, while a branch line is inserted into the smaller end of the member 15 and thence into the adjacent end of the member 18, until it preferably contacts with the first conductor. The two members are then screwed together, the contact of the member 18 against the lirst conductor forcing the former into the restricted portion of the member 19, thus contracting the sides of the tapered section 17 about said branch conductor, as in the case of the connector above described.

Havin thus described my invention, what I c aim and desire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A connector, comprising a centrally a ertured radially unyielding member provlded externally with wrench-gripping surfaces between screw-threaded portions and at its ends tapered outwardly, each of said tapered portions only being provided with a longitudinally extending slot terminating inwardly in a slot directed transversely and circumferentially in opposite directions from said first slot, to form radially yieldable portions, and internallyv threaded conical'ly bored caps adapted to engage said threaded surfaces and operative thereby to lontract the tapered portions of said mem- 2. A connector, comprising a centrally apertured radially unyielding member provided externally with wrench-gripping surfaces between screwthrea-led portions and at its ends tapered outwardly, each of said tapered portions being provided with a longitudinally extending slot terminating inwardly in a transversely directed slot substantially 180 degrees in extent, to form opposed equally radially yieldable portions, and internally threaded conically bored caps adapted to engage said threaded surfaces and operative thereby to contract the tapered portions of said member.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature.

ROBERT A. BECKER. 

